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The Walking Dead Season 6 Episode 3: My Thoughts and Hopes

WARNING: CONTAINS MASSIVE SPOILERS

This season of The Walking Dead is setting up to be an epic one. The show is in its sixth season, which is about the time most shows start winding down and come to an end. History has shown that if a show goes past season 6, it tends to over stay its welcome (right, Dexter?)

But not TWD. They show no signs of slowing down anytime soon and are still churning out content that keeps fans on the edge of their seat. The survivors have been in the “quiet” settlement of Alexandrea for a little while now and there is still plenty of drama to go around. In episode 2 of this season in what I thought was going to be a slow boring episode, the town is brutally attacked by the mysterious “Wolves” and many Alexandrians perished. For me, it was a top 5 episode that left me asking, “Where will they go from here?”

Then this Sunday’s episode happened…

A quick recap: This episode showed us what was happening with all the characters that were trying to drive the herd of walkers away which, thanks to the loud horn caused by the wolf attack, proved to be a difficult task. The episode focuses on Glenn, Michonne, and a group of injured/inexperienced Alexandrians as they attempt to find a way to distract the herd of walkers from going towards the horn and Alexandrea. In the climax of the episode, Glenn and Nicholas (who is mentally incapacitated from his past cowardly actions) attempt to head towards an old warehouse and light it on fire. The two get surrounded by a large group of walkers and instead of escaping over a fence, Nicholas decides to blow his brains out and he and Glenn fall into the group of walkers. The walkers then appear to be devouring Glenn as he screams in pain. Goodbye, Glenn.

Or is it?

Since the airing of this episode I have had a multitude of conversations with my fellow TWD fans and none of us can agree on whether or not that was the last we see of Glenn. Was that him the walkers were devouring, or did Nicholas fall on top of him and it was his corpse they were tearing to shreds? Could Glenn possibly escape this situation? We don’t know yet, but one thing is for sure…

I will be very upset if Glenn makes it out of there alive.

Before you decide to make me “look at the flowers”, let’s look at the reasons why he could be alive.

Talking Dead

If you don’t watch Talking Dead immediately after TWD I highly suggest you do. It has a lot of interesting background information on that week’s episode as well as many different points of view from fellow TWD fans. After this episode, it was a very somber attitude on the set of Talking Dead. The vibe that I’m sure many fans were feeling appeared to be shared by host Chris Hardwick (Nerdist.com), David Lindelof (Lost), and Yvette Nicole Brown (Community). We all mourned the loss of Glenn all the way up to the weekly segment (titled “In Memoriam”) where we get a recap of those characters and walkers who met their demise in that week’s episode. I waited with baited breathe to see how they were going to honor someone who has been there since the beginning. And then…

Nothing.

Instead of seeing Glenn being torn apart like the bride’s bouquet tossed into a pack of jealous bride’s maids, all we got was this:

That’s it. Naturally, this raised some eyebrows. Chris Hardwick pointed out that Glenn was not included in the In Memoriam. He then read a note from the producer Scott M. Gimple who said that Glenn “will be back”. He goes on to say, “in some way, we will see Glenn, some version of Glenn, or parts of Glenn again either in flash back or the current story, to help complete the story”. What the fuck does THAT mean? This could mean any number of things (more on that later). There was no confirmation, ever, that Glenn was gone. This behavior is highly irregular for a character’s death, especially a fan favorite. This means, there is hope.

The Fall

This is what really has fan’s hopes high . Take a look at how Nicholas and Glenn fell into the group of walkers:

Trust Fall!

As you can see, it appears Nicholas is about to fall on top of Glenn. This means that the walkers could be devouring Nicholas’ corpse and might Leave Glenn alone. Perhaps he can lay under Nicholas’ remains while he formulates a plan for his escape. Maybe he will get covered in Nicholas’ blood and be able to sneak away from the walkers like in Season 1 (also, gross). A lot of people are saying that he crawled under the dumpster they were standing on.

Those are really the only reasons that I believe are plausible that Glenn can still be alive. Here is why I believe he may have become walker food…

He Has Come Close To Death Way Too Many Times

Think back to past episodes of the show. How many times have you seen Glenn come close to getting killed in one way or another? A dozen? Glenn has had more close calls than the lead in a Final Destination movie.

Seriously how many times can one person tempt fate? Is he a fucking Highlander and we don’t know it? The whole “Let’s see how Glenn gets out of THIS one” trope is wearing thin with me. It is hard to believe that one person is THAT resourceful/lucky every time death stares him in the face. I understand the apocalypse has hardened him up a bit, but let’s not forget that before shit got crazy Glenn was a fucking pizza delivery boy. And no one is that lucky.

“Seriously how the fuck am I still alive?”

The Watch and the Walkie-Talkie

Right before Glenn decides to blow up the warehouse, he asked for a moment alone. He then spends a long time looking at the watch that Herschel (Remember Herschel!? What’s he been up… Oh right…) for a long time. What could this possibly mean? He could be looking at it because he misses Maggie and this reminds him of her. Or he could be looking at it because he misses her, and he may never see her again. Can he sense that he won’t see her again?

Then there is the conversation with Rick over the walkie-talkie. It is a real touching conversation ending with Glenn calling Rick a “dumb ass”. Did this conversation feel out of place to you? It certainly did to me. That is, until I watched Talking Dead and Yvette Nicole Brown pointed out that this conversation should be very familiar to us. This is how the very first conversation between Rick and Glenn happened. If you recall at the end of the very first episode, Rick is trapped in the tank and all seems lost. He then hears a voice on the walkie-talkie. It’s Glenn, and though Glenn calls him a dumb ass for putting himself in that position, its Rick’s first glimmer of hope since he woke up in the hospital. It’s a very important moment in Rick’s post-apocalyptic life, so it makes sense that the writers would call back to this right before one of them dies.

It happens all the time in shows: The writers tend to give hints that a character is about to perish. This usually comes in the form of a call back or a heartfelt goodbye. Could be their way of sending Glenn off properly?

After all of this, I am still torn as to whether or not he is alive or dead. As I write this, I have seen articles pop up with many compelling arguments as to why he is still alive and how he will make it out of this sticky situation. But I believe that he SHOULDN’T make it out of there alive. In fact, I would prefer if he didn’t. Yes Glenn is a fan favorite and a good dude, but the reason we love TWD is it keeps us one our toes. Anyone can be taken from us in an instant (speaking of likable characters, what’s Bethe doing now a da… Oh… right…). Personally I think it will only enhance the show if Glenn is gone three episodes into the season. Not a season finale, not a mid-season finale, just BOOM! Random episode. None of us really saw it coming, and that’s why it would be amazing.

But what about that cryptic message from the produce? What the fuck could it mean? I have a theory about that, and I think it would be an awesome direction for the show to go. Something I have failed to mention about this episode is that Glenn seems to be hell bent on “going home”. Throughout the episode, he stresses how important this is. David, one of the inept Alexandrians, has the same mission. The difference between David and Glenn is that David seems to feel he will not make home.

I feel like David’s demise was foreshadowing what was about to happen to Glenn. But instead of dying, in my theory, Glenn becomes a walker. And here is the caveat: his mission does not change. He still wanders back to Alexandria. Obviously he wouldn’t be as welcome as he was before, but the best moments in the show are when someone the survivors love becomes a walker. Remember Sophia? The moment she stumbled out of the barn is still one of my favorite moments in the history of the show.

Plus what about Maggie? She has had so many people taken from her. Glenn is literally the only person she has left in this world. Imagine what her story could become when she has nothing live for. That would be a story arc I would like to see.

Relationship Status: “It’s Complicated”

I know many of you will disagree with me. I know many of you want Glenn to persevere and somehow make it out of this type of situation for the umpteenth time. But how many times can this possibly happen? Either way I am excited to see what happens, and can’t wait for Sunday.